The new interface of Windows 8 has drawn both praise and criticism from home users to power users. Everybody seems to agree on the fact that the Windows 8 interface is a radical departure from previous versions. Perhaps you didn't realize it, but Canonical has been in the same position more than a year ago. The company behind the popular Linux distribution changed Ubuntu's standard interface from a slightly customized GNOME experience, to a heavily customized experience that got its own name: Unity.

Some people love Unity, some hate it. With Ubuntu 12.04, Canonical has put some effort to satisfy all users, by supporting GNOME Shell through the universe repository. You still need to install the desktop environment, but it's all a few clicks away. For some developers, that's still not enough. On Ubuntu's forums there's an active discussion about the development of a new Ubuntu spin, that promises "to ship a pure GNOME experience," according to Ubuntu developer Jeremy Bicha.

The name initially planned for the spin was GNOMEbuntu, but the GNOME Foundation wasn't comfortable with that. However there's a website carrying the name, that will probably become the official site of the project. There have been rumors the new name could be GNObuntu or Gubuntu.

Many details are still being discussed, like which file manager should be used and whether to stick to Ubuntu's default login manager LightDM or GNOME's standard login manager GDM. Developers agree on delivering the GNOME experience, so the distribution won't include Firefox or Thunderbird, but Epiphany browser and Evolution for e-mail. Because GNOME has its own office software, Abiword and Gnumeric will be included instead of Ubuntu's standard Libreoffice. Several Ubuntu services are stripped as well, such as Ubuntu One.

There will be a release based on the upcoming 12.10, but it won't be a officially recognized Ubuntu spin. The new flavor has to go through a standard process to become a formal member of the Ubuntu family. An alpha build will be released for testing soon.